


How to CATch a Ladybug

by tigerange



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bad Pick-Up Lines, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Identity Reveal, Not Season/Series 03 Compliant, Romance, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, im here for a good time not a serious time, this is borderline crack PLEASE stop taking it seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-08-02 11:30:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16304354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigerange/pseuds/tigerange
Summary: Adrien had his suspicions about Ladybug's true identity after their close-call with Troublemaker. Now all he needed was to test his theory... with bad pick-up lines.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> do you ever sit down and think, "wow, I'm going to write a oneshot!"  
> but then you discover, 5000 words later, it was all a lie?
> 
> ...yeah.
> 
> ALSO BIG PRE-WARNING THIS HAS SPOILERS FOR SEASON TWO AND MAKES REFERENCES TO TROUBLEMAKER AND DARK OWL AND PROBABLY OTHER EPISODES SO LIKE UH DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS COOL THANX BYE.
> 
> edit: whoops I took so long to finish this season 3 already came out LOLOL

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 _“Whew!_ _Well, that was a close call! Looks like you won't find out my secret identity today!”_  

_“I already know who you are.”_

_“Huh?!”_

_“You're the girl of my dreams.”_

 

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Adrien knew.

He’d known since the fight against Troublemaker.

Those blue eyes. That constellation of freckles. And her tell-tale midnight hair…

It was all falling into place now. This whole time, he’d been blind. It was  _dead obvious_. Who else wore their hair in pigtails every day? Who else was coincidentally late to classes every time an akuma attack happened? Who else always took the initiative at school, a superhero even in civilian form?

Ladybug was no one other than _Marinette Dupain-Cheng_.

He sighed, his brain starting to ache from overthinking. Of course it was her. Of course it was.

It was a surprise Alya hadn’t even figured it out yet, considering Marinette was her best friend and all, _unless_ … she did know. (But then again, she seemed clueless in retrospect, and always pined about not knowing her true identity, so maybe not.)

“Still thinking about Ladybug?” a familiar voice asked. Plagg popped his head out from a drawer, which held his proclaimed secret stash of cheese.

Adrien had been avoiding opening it voluntarily. He held his breath. “Yeah.”

Plagg tutted. “You know, Adrien, it could just be a _coincidence_ …”

“A coincidence?” he echoed in disbelief. “She’s the spitting image of Ladybug, Plagg. Plus, _you_ know who Ladybug is, right?”

He was referring to the time he and Ladybug—or should he say, _Marinette—_ had to de-transform in front of each other in order to trick Dark Owl into thinking he received their Miraculouses. They’d both closed their eyes, trusting each other not to look at their civilian forms - but that didn’t mean Marinette’s kwami and Plagg didn’t see everything.

Plagg turned his nose up. “Even if I do, it’s against kwami morals to reveal her identity against her wishes.”

“Stupid kwami morals,” Adrien said. He leant back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest.

It would be a bad idea to confront Marinette about it. Oh no, _definitely_ a bad idea. If she _wasn’t_ Ladybug, and _she_ figured out he was Chat Noir, then, well, that would be quite a troubling revelation. Not to mention Marinette seemed to already struggle with getting sentences out around him at times, which added yet another point against his _Marinette is Ladybug_ theory.

“I mean,” Plagg said, “if you’re just so curious, why not act like Chat around her, and see if she reacts like Ladybug?”

“Seriously, Plagg? That’s a hor—  _wait_.” Adrien sat up. “That’s a great idea.”

His kwami beamed. “Why, thank you.”

He tapped his chin in thought. “But how would I… do that, exactly?” He couldn’t exactly vault off walls with his baton, or use Nino’s pants as a scratching post, or purr whenever he wished. What else was Chat notorious for?

What else was Chat _really good_ at?

As if hearing his thoughts, Plagg said, “Flirt with her.”

Adrien almost fell off his chair. “Flirt? With _Marinette?_ In… as _Adrien?_ ”

“Chat can do it with Ladybug. So why can’t you?”

“Because that’s _Chat_. Adrien… _I_ am not flirty,” he reasoned.

“But what happens if Marinette is Ladybug? You’ll never find out if you _try_ …” His kwami winked.

Adrien flushed. “ _Plagg!_ I thought you were against this sort of thing! You’re encouraging me to do something against your ‘kwami morals’, or whatever!”

Plagg grinned, before diving back into his cheese-stuffed drawer. “I’m not encouraging you to do anything! I’m an innocent kwami! If you decide to flirt with Marinette, that’s your choice.”

He gritted his teeth, but couldn’t find a better comeback to the mischievous kwami.

With reluctance, he switched on his desktop and pulled up Google. In the search bar, he typed _Top 100 cheesy pick-up lines_.

 

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Adrien’s heart was racing as he walked up the stairs to school that following morning. He’d stayed awake until midnight researching the best cheesy pick-up lines, and had them all written down in his phone to refer to during the day.

 _Okay, you got this_ , he told himself. _Just sprinkle them in. Casually. Calmly. Don’t overdo it, or you’ll just make things really weird._

“Hey, uh, Adrien, dude? You okay?” Nino asked, meeting him on the staircase. “You look a little pale.”

“I do?” he said, before forcing laughter. “It’s nothing. I, uh, didn’t get the best sleep last night.”

His friend raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I was, um, doing some research.”

“Research? Really? What for?”

“I was… researching… uh…” He trailed off as he spotted Marinette talking to Alya ahead outside the locker room. Knowing Nino and his magnet-like attraction to his girlfriend, Alya, they were headed in the direction of the two girls. “I was researching ladybugs. I mean, Ladybug. I was researching Ladybug.”

Nino gave him a weird look. “Okay, dude. I didn’t know you were a fan of L—”

He didn’t finish the sentence, because Alya appeared before them with Marinette tagging behind like a shadow. “Nino! Adrien! About _time!_ You would not _believe_ what happened last night!”

“Is this the Ladyblog, again, Alya?” Nino asked.

“Of _course_ it’s the Ladyblog,” Marinette said, and it probably wasn’t supposed to be heard by anyone. But Adrien heard it.

Alya began to rant about her _exclusive footage_ of Ladybug and Chat Noir doing patrol yesterday afternoon to them, but Adrien had his mind set on something else. Unnoticed by the couple, he turned to her quiet friend, who was unaware of her approaching demise.

“Hey Marinette,” he said, startling her. She turned to him, eyes wide. “Are you French? Because _Eiffel_ for you.”

He said it with such a monotone, it took a few moments for Marinette to process what had happened. When she did, her cheeks went a deep red, and a high-pitched sound emitted from her, sounding like a boiling kettle.

Adrien wasn’t sure whether it was coming from her mouth or her brain.

Alya and Nino had stopped their talking to stare, too. He wasn’t sure if they’d heard the whole conversation or not, or just Marinette’s insides imploding.

“Marinette, are you okay?” Alya asked, taking her aside.

Nino looked at Adrien. “Dude, what just happened?”

“I just told her a pun.”

“A pun?”

“Er, well, it was more so a cheesy pun… a cheesy… pick-up line?” Hesitant, he grinned at his friend.

Nino stared back with an incredulous expression. “Excuse me,” he said. “Did Adrien Agreste just say he used a pick-up line?”

“It was… a test,” Adrien answered, and it was partially the truth. “Marinette seemed to like it. Right?”

Alya looked up from consoling her best friend, who now seemed to be frothing at the mouth. “She’s gonna need CPR,” she said with a knowing smirk.

“Sorry, Marinette,” he said, somewhat apologetic. “You must be the reason men fall in love.”

Not wanting to stay to see her reaction, he turned and high-tailed it to the classroom before someone could dropkick him.

 

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Although Alya and Nino had many questions, Adrien tried his best to dodge them. They had both come up with the fantasy he had a crush on her, or something like that, and they weren’t _entirely_ wrong—somewhat—but it was a lot more complicated than that.

A _lot_ more.

Marinette seemed to have recovered from his sneak attacks, but she _did_ lose a moment of composure when she walked into the classroom that morning and met his eyes. She stumbled, almost face-planting the stairs - but caught herself on the edge of his desk just before such a calamity took place.

 _Hmm_ , Adrien mused. _Ladybug-like reflexes._

“Sorry, Adrien, I didn’t mean to dump your besk—I mean, your rump desk—I mean, bump _your_ desk!” She was glowing red.

_But god, Ladybug never spoke to Chat like that!_

“It’s fine,” he said, giving his best model smile. “Oh, wait - it looks like you dropped something.”

Marinette blinked, looking down at the ground. When she found the statement wasn’t true, she opened her mouth to ask what, but he interjected with, “My jaw.”

Someone behind him started choking, and his best bet it was Alya. Marinette’s cheeks darkened yet again, her mouth forming a perfect ‘o’ shape, before she tottled off to her seat and collapsed into it.

Nino shook his head at him. “I don’t know who’s going to die first - Alya from choking on her water, or Marinette from having too much blood rush to her head.”

Later that day, he heard the tell-tale sound of a pencil dropping, and his head followed the source to see said object on the step beside his desk.

He turned his head back to investigate who it belonged to, and much to his pleasure, it belonged to an already-flustered Marinette.

She sat rigid in her seat, eyes flicking between his face and her pencil on the floor, lying helpless.

Adrien bent down to pick it up and hand it back to her. As she took it with caution, he whispered, “Life without you is like a broken pencil…” He paused, watching as the humiliation sunk in. “ _Pointless_.”

Marinette snatched her hand away, smacked the pencil down on her desk and raised her hand.

“I need to go to the toilet!” she announced, an edge in her voice. Not even waiting for the teacher to respond, she jumped up from her seat and ran for the door.

_Wow._

Alya was snickering behind her hand. Nino just gave him this _look_.

Five minutes later, Marinette returned looking more composed, and she made extra effort to avoid his gaze as she returned to her desk. Her cheeks still held the remnants of her blush.

 

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Adrien had patrol with Ladybug that evening. She seemed to be deep in thought for most of patrol, her eyebrows furrowed and her bottom lip puckered out like she tasted something sour.

“Is there something bothering you, M’Lady?” he asked.

“Oh, Kitty. Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so quiet,” she responded with a sigh. Her arms folded over her chest, a sign she was brooding. “I’ve just had a very weird day.”

He leaned against his baton, raising an eyebrow. “A paw for a thought?”

Ladybug laughed. He noticed it sounded very familiar. _Marinette_ -familiar. “Oh, you know, it’s just… boy troubles.”

“Boy troubles?” he echoed. “Boy troubles that don’t involve me? I’m hurt.” She rolled her eyes, and he added, “But please, do elaborate.”

“Well, I can’t tell if this guy is into me or not,” she told him. “Like, one day he seems  _totally_ disinterested, the next he’s just acting really… strange _and_ interested. To be honest, I don’t even know if he’s being serious or not!”

Adrien frowned. _That_ didn’t sound like a Marinette problem. Oh no. Had he gotten it wrong?

Just as he was beginning to panic, Ladybug said, “Tell me, Chat. If someone started flirting with you out of the blue, how would _you_ respond?”

“Well, I would flirt back, Bugaboo,” he said. “No one can flirt better than _me_.” He grinned at her.

“Okay, well, I’m totally not as bold as _you_ , Kitty…” Ladybug huffed. “I don’t see that plan working out very well for me.”

She unfastened her yo-yo from her waist to fiddle with, twisting the cord around her fingers and swinging it back and forth between them like a pendulum. He couldn’t help but stare as it swung, fighting the urge to smack it with his baton.

“Do you like that guy?” he asked, eyes still following her yo-yo. “The one who’s acting strange?”

Ladybug’s cheeks turned pink. “Ye… yes.”

Adrien narrowed his eyes, suspicious. That was _very_ Marinette of her.

She noticed his glare. “What?” Her hands lowered, and a smile tugged the corners of her lips. “Are you… _jealous?_ ”

“Who, me? No, _no_ ,” he said, forcing an overconfident laugh. “Why would I be jealous when we’re clearly made to be together?” He retracted his baton and walked over to her, leaning in close to her face.

Ladybug leaned back.

“I’ve been wondering, do your lips taste as good as they look?”

She laughed in his face, lifting a finger to his nose and pushing him away. “Oh, Kitty, that’s for me to know,” she said, taking a step away, towards the edge of the roof they were standing on. “And for you to _never_ find out!”

As she shot out her yo-yo across the rooftops to leave, he grabbed her arm. “Wait! Ladybug!”

Ladybug looked back over her shoulder at him. “Yes, Chat Noir?”

“I think you stole something,” he said.

She blinked, confused. “What?”

With a solemn look, he put a hand to his chest. “My heart.”

She shook her head, holding back a chuckle, and leapt off the building, disappearing into the sunset.

Ah, but it really was true.

 

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“I wish I was an ion, so I could form an exothermic bond with you.”

Marinette started with a squeal. “A— _Adrien!_ ” she blurted when he walked in front of her. “You— I— _you just—!_ ”

He smiled. “Yes? Good morning to you too, Marinette.”

She stumbled over some incoherent words, before straightening up and sucking in a sharp breath. “Mood gorning! _Ugh_ , GOOD MORNING!” Embarrassed, her hands went to her face, and she groaned into them.

Adrien just laughed. He had to admit, she was pretty cute. If only Ladybug reacted in such a way to his puns…

He pushed the thought away, stepping up to Marinette. “Hey, I have a sewing-related question,” he said, holding out his shirt to her. “Do you know what this is made of?”

She reached out to rub the white fabric between her fingers, a little uncertain. “I don’t know… cotton?”

“No,” he said. “It’s made out of _boyfriend material_.”

Marinette froze up, the situation dawning on her.

“Wow dude, actually, that one was pretty good,” Nino said, walking up from behind. “I should use it on Alya next time.”

As Adrien looked back at his friend to grin, he heard a loud _thump_ of something—or someone—hitting the floor in front. When he turned back, Marinette was collapsed on the ground, the shade of beetroot.

Alya appeared to recover the broken girl, as if summoned by any sign of her friend’s distress.

“Well, if it isn’t obvious to you by now how she feels about you,” Nino added, looking at Marinette, “I don’t know what is.”

“Huh?” he said.

His friend just gave him a knowing smile, the same Alya had the previous day. “Nothing.”

Why did he feel like he was very much missing some important detail about this situation?


	2. Chapter 2

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It'd been a week since the plan had been put into action. It wasn't going  _well_ , so to say, because Marinette really wasn't giving the reactions Adrien wanted to prove his theory.

He decided he'd try it one last time. One last time. With his _best, cattiest_ puns.

Adrien waited behind the door of Marinette's locker one morning before class, her blissfully unaware of his presence. When she closed the door—after seemingly having a conversation with herself—she spotted him and jumped on the spot, as if seeing a ghost.

“Are you a cat?” he asked. “Because I’m _feline_ a connection between us.”

She almost dropped her books, becoming a spluttering mess. “A-A-A-A _drien!_  It’s y- _you,_ again.” She opened her mouth to say something else, but nothing came.

“Wait, wait,” he said, holding up a hand, “I have another one. If I were a cat, I would spend all nine lives with you.”

Marinette put her head down into her books. “Is this a dream? Or a nightmare?” she mumbled to herself.

 _Why a nightmare_ , he wanted to ask her, but was stopped as a hand clamped down hard on his shoulder.

“Hello Adrien!" Alya said, gliding past him to swing an arm around her flustered best friend. "What a surprise to see you here! Back at it again, huh?" 

"Back at what again?" he shot back, but very well knew what she was referring too.

She shook her head, patting Marinette's hair, and said, "I think you need to lay off the flirting a little." Then she lead her beet-red friend out of the locker room, shooting a secret wink over her shoulder on the way out the door. "See you in class!"

Adrien frowned to himself, sinking down onto one of the benches nearby.

Maybe she was right. Marinette had hardly given him a Ladybug reaction, and that implied more than enough to give in to his scheme. An inkling in the back of his mind told him it was probably too late to back out, though.

“Hey, wipe that frown off your face!” Plagg said, appearing in front of him. Everyone else had already left the locker room, thankfully.

“I can’t, Plagg. I feel like… I’ve got it wrong. Or maybe I’m _doing_ something wrong.”

His kwami shrugged, holding up a piece of his favourite stinky cheese. “I don't think you're doing anything wrong. Here, have some Camembert—it always makes me feel better.”

“No thanks,” Adrien declined, screwing up his nose. “You can have it.”

“Your loss,” Plagg said, before inhaling the cheese.

_Eugh. Disgusting._

The school bell chimed, interrupting their conversation. Suddenly aware of the time, Adrien threw his hands up to his face, groaning as he realised he was going to be late.

He dashed back to his locker, grabbed his books and hurried to class. At least this time, he wasn’t late from an akuma attack.

 

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For the rest of the day, Adrien decided to lay off his plan a little and tried to observe Marinette instead. Nothing was working how he expected to, clearly, and now he was doubting what his own eyes saw during the Troublemaker incident.

He could’ve _sworn_ it was her.

In class, when Marinette saw him, she tensed up as if expecting him to drop another line. But much to her surprise (or dismay, he couldn’t tell), he just gave her a smile, leaving her to return a look of confusion.

“Run out of puns?” Nino asked, noticing his friend’s silence.

“Hmm?” Adrien said. “No, just saving them for later.”

“You know, Adrien,” he continued, “if you just ask her out, she’ll say yes.”

“Who?”

Nino looked pained. “Uh, _you know_ …” His eyes darted towards a certain pig-tailed figure behind him.

Adrien's lips turned down, understanding his implication, but not quite… _understanding-_ understanding. “How are you so sure?”

For all he knew, Marinette was probably just flustered because he was throwing these bold statements at her—they were, well, _just_ friends.

His friend rolled his eyes. “Dude, she li—”

He didn’t finish the sentence, because something from behind collided with the back of his head. It was Alya—holding up a textbook, her cheeks puffed out.

“Nino!” she warned.

Nino clutched his head, groaning. “What? Like, everyone knows—”

“Not _everyone_ ,” she hissed, nodding at Adrien, who blinked.

“Huh?”

“It’s nothing,” Alya said, lowering her textbook. “Nino is just being a pain in my… _neck_. Boyfriends, am I right?” She grinned while leaning over her desk to mess with Nino’s hat.

Adrien laughed. He was still lost, but whatever. He glanced back at Marinette, who was hiding behind her hands for some odd reason. This situation was getting stranger and stranger by the minute.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Marinette squeaked, her hands retracting from her face. She was, once again, bright red. “I-I’m fine! _Dust jandy!_ ”

He nodded, offering a polite smile, before turning away.

Behind him, he heard her mutter, “‘Dust jandy’? _Just dandy_ , you idiot.”

 

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The rest of the week passed very quick, uneventful as it usually was. Adrien had put an indefinite halt on his quest to figure out Ladybug’s identity, and that left many of his peers confused.

Now he was standing in the Dupain-Cheng bakery—or what was left of it—as his alter-ego, alongside a distressed Ladybug. Another akuma attack, another day in Paris.

“Should I go check whether the Dupain-Cheng’s are okay?” he tested. She _was_ at the scene of the fight before he was.

(To be honest, he had been oblivious there was even an akuma until a truck-sized bowling ball rolled its way past his window ten minutes prior.)

Ladybug straightened. “No! No, it’s fine. I already checked on them, and evacuated everyone to a safe place.” She frowned. “For now, we should try to follow this path of wreckage 'Strike Out' left behind…”

He followed her gaze down the street, a very obvious line of damage carved into the road and surrounding buildings.

As they picked their way through the sorry story the bakery was, Adrien plucked a flattened pack of buns from the ground.

He'd promised he wouldn't flirt with Marinette—but that didn't mean he couldn't with  _Ladybug_.

“Is your dad a baker?” he asked her. She stiffened, her back to him. “Because you have a nice set of…” He held out the bread in front of her. “… _buns_.”

Ladybug scoffed, slapping the bread away. “Kitty, that wasn’t even funny— _nor_ witty. Quit catting around!”

Her mind focused elsewhere, she leapt off in a blur of red carried by her yo-yo. 

He sighed. Well, _that_ was a suspicious reaction, for one. Tossing the bread aside, he hurried after her.

The fight played out as usual; it was a wild-goose chase all over Paris, monumental buildings were being destroyed left and right, and they struggled to dodge Strike Out’s attacks. After all other plans failed, it was up to Ladybug to use her Lucky Charm.

“Really? A peel?” she said when her lucky charm item appeared.

“Are you sure you’re not a baker’s daughter?” he asked, half-joking, but also half-serious.

Ladybug glared at him. “Chat! You’re not helping.” She turned away to figure how she could use the peel. It took a few moments before it came to her. “Aha!”

“What’s the plan, M’Lady?”

“Well…” She explained her plan to him, which involved using her yo-yo to create a barrier at the base of the Eiffel Tower. “For now, I need you to be a distraction to lure Strike Out into our trap!”

Adrien had to hold back a sigh. He was _always_ the distraction. Sometimes, it was a little more than annoying to play that role.

Nevertheless, he complied, running off to the akumatised victim. They theorised the actual victim was _inside_ the bowling ball, and the bowling ball was the item the akuma was in—similar to Despair Bear. The idea was to render the bowling ball immobile, so they could destroy it and capture the akuma.

“Hey, ballzy! Over here!” he shouted, waving his arms like a madman to attract Strike Out’s attention. As planned, the villain spotted him, and he had the (unfortunate) joy of having to be chased back towards the Eiffel Tower by a giant bowling ball.

“Quick, Chat!” Ladybug exclaimed from somewhere above his head. “Jump!”

Her trap had already been set at the base of the tower, her yo-yo ready to temporarily disable Strike Out’s momentum.

He reached for his baton, extending it to vault himself out of the situation before he became the equivalent of roadkill. But as he launched himself out from underneath the Eiffel Tower, he misjudged his path, and collided with one of the tower’s supports.

The wind knocked clean out of him, he was falling, and somewhere along the way, he heard Ladybug cry, “ _Chat Noir!_ ”

Before he collided with the ground, though, red swooped in and caught him, softening the fall. Ladybug stumbled on their landing, having misjudged the sheer fact he weighed more than she could carry, and they skidded across the concrete in a mess of spandex.

When they stopped moving, Ladybug was lying flat on top of him.

Adrien blinked, trying to register what had just happened. His head hurt like hell, but with such proximity to the girl he adored, it was the last thing on his mind.

“M’Lady,” he said up to her. She groaned, pushing herself away from him so she was straddling his stomach. “For a moment, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Now I see that I am very much alive, and heaven has been brought to me.”

Ladybug grimaced, shoving a hand in his face and jumping off him. “Chat Noir, now is not the time to play!”

She scooped up the peel she dropped a few metres away and dashed off in the direction of Strike Out, who was still fumbling underneath the Eiffel Tower. _At least_ the trap had worked.

“Hurry up!” yelled his partner.

Adrien sighed, pushing himself off the ground and following after her.

The fight ended not long after, despite things not going entirely to plan. Ladybug somehow managed to reach Strike Out in time before he found his bearings, and used the peel to bat the bowling ball over into the river, rendering it immobile.

Before it sank, he used his Cataclysm to break the bowling ball and rescued the akumatised victim from inside. Meanwhile, Ladybug caught the akuma and did her _Miraculous Ladybug_ , reversing all the damage it had caused.

All in all, another win for the superheroes.

“Pound it!” the pair chimed with their signature fist bump.

Ladybug’s earrings beeped just as she was about to speak. Deciding it wasn't as important as her identity being revealed, she prepared to run off yet again, but Adrien reached for her arm.

“What is it _now_ , Chat?” she asked, sounding a tad annoyed.

He gave her his best Cheshire-cat grin. “If I followed you home, would you keep me, Bugaboo?”

She rolled her eyes, but he didn’t miss the slight smile tugging her lips. “In your wildest dreams, Kitty,” she told him.

Ladybug ran off and he sighed, knowing his heart was completely sold to her.

 

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“Adrien!” a familiar voice called while he was walking to the locker room, and he turned on his heel to face—to his surprise—Marinette.

She looked up at him from under her dark eyelashes, a pink tint to her cheeks. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips were pulled into a straight line.

Adrien smiled down at her. “Hey, Marinette. What’s up?”

“Um!” she said, fumbling with her hands. She averted her gaze from his, looking down at the palm of her hand. “Uh, I… I… sust be a mowflow, because you fallen for I’ve!”

He tilted his head, unsure if she’d just attempted to speak to him in another language, or if it was just Marinette-speak. “I’m… sorry?”

Marinette flushed scarlet, her mouth floundering for words. “I mean! I _meant!_ I-I must be a snowflow… NO! A _snowflake!_ Because I’ve yallen for fou! _Agh!_ I’ve fallen for…” She trailed off, losing motivation in her speech.

 _Oh_. He got it now.

“Do you mean,” Adrien said, leaning in close, “‘I must be a snowflake, because I’ve fallen for you’?”

She jumped away from him with a hideous squawk, her hands flying up to her face. “Y-yes! Yes!” she said. “I meant that!”

He nodded, tapping his chin. “That was a good one,“ he said. “I guess I can’t use it on you now, huh?”

Marinette wheezed in response.

“Oh! I know.” He reached out, seizing one of her hands in his. “Your hand looks heavy. Let me hold it for you.”

Before she could get any answer out, her knees buckled and she crumpled to the ground, almost bringing Adrien down with her. He caught her quickly before she hurt herself, then lowered her onto her backside.

“It seems like you’ve _literally_ fallen, now,” he joked, and she spluttered something in reply.

Was she really Ladybug? It was a little hard to believe at this point. Chat _never_ got such an exaggerated reaction with his flirting, that was for sure.

Maybe… maybe it was _because_ he was Chat when he did it, so she expected it? If he tried flirting with Ladybug as Adrien, would she react the same as Marinette?

His mouth popped open in realisation. Maybe he just needed to approach his tactic from another angle? If he could render the same reaction from Ladybug, then they were the same person _for sure_.

“Uh… Adrien?” Marinette said, and he came back down to Earth. He was still holding her from when she fell, staring directly at her face.

This time, it was _his_ turn to blush. “S-sorry! I was…” he trailed off, floundering for an excuse. “I was just thinking, if you were a vegetable, you would be a _cute_ cumber.”

She blinked up at him, as if not quite registering what he said, before she squeaked and stood so fast their foreheads almost collided.

“T-that’s nice! S-see you in class, Daydrien! I mean _Adrien!_ ” she blurted out, before sprinting off in the direction of the stairs.

He blinked, reaching up to feel the warmth from his cheeks.

That was _strange_.

 

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“So how exactly are you going to meet up with Ladybug as _Adrien?_ ” Plagg asked, after hearing his owner explain his revelation later that day.

Adrien rolled around on his bed, sighing. “That’s the thing—I don’t _know_.” He stared up at the ceiling above his head. “Usually, we only meet by accident, or in an instance where I _can’t_ be Chat Noir.”

“Hmm,” his kwami mused.

“The only idea I can come up with is to try and create a situation where Ladybug would come to _me_ ,” he continued. “But when I think about it, that means maybe having to lie or create a dangerous situation or something, and that’s just…”

 _…Unless_ he found her on patrol as Adrien, instead of Chat Noir. But if _he_ showed up instead of Chat, wouldn’t that make him suspicious?

Adrien groaned, pushing his hands back through his hair. “This is so _hard!_ ”

“Maybe you could make up some excuse for Chat not to go to patrol,” Plagg suggested, “and then coincidentally meet up with Ladybug as Adrien?”

“That’s… actually not a bad idea, Plagg,” he said, looking over at him.

The kwami dove into his pile of cheese. “Uh, I mean, _what_ idea? I didn’t suggest an idea. I don’t want you skipping patrol. If I encouraged you to do that, I would be a _bad_ kwami.”

Adrien grinned at him. “It’s okay, I won’t tell,” he said. “Thank you, Plagg!”

Plagg didn't emerge. “I didn’t do anything, I swear!”

He sat up in bed. All he had to do was transform into Chat, leave a message for Ladybug on her yo-yo explaining how he couldn’t make patrol due to _real life commitments_ , and plan out how he would meet her as Adrien.

It was simple.

Right?

Adrien held out his hand. “Alright! Plagg, claws out!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for making an akumatised victim a GIANT BOWLING BALL, but at least I don't write for ML because all of my akuma ideas would be just as ridiculous, lol. (next up: a banana suit akuma)
> 
> wow, I wasn't expecting so much feedback for my first chapter here, but thank you for the support!  
> I'm just having a bit of fun writing this and not really setting out for perfection (I'm currently putting all my perfection into an actual 3000 word creative writing assignment for uni, and it's quite the struggle), although I'm glad people are also enjoying this mess of a fic lol.  
> I'm hoping to wrap this up at/before five chapters (I say this tentatively because I could sneeze and end up with ten chapters, but oh boy, I sure hope that doesn't happen). right now I'm finishing up chapter three. I think it's the cheekiest chapter so far, buuuuut I'm not trying to get anyone's hopes up.


	3. Chapter 3

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After a long time of anxious thinking, Adrien’s plan was set and ready.

On the day of patrol, he snuck out as Chat. He hid at their usual meeting place until Ladybug came, and from there, stalked her every movement, waiting for the right moment to appear as Adrien.

It was tough because the superhero was always on edge, as expected—getting caught would raise _a lot_ of questions—but somehow he managed, knowing his partner well enough to keep out of sight.

After finishing countless small jobs, Ladybug stopped in a park to help a lost child find their mother. With the setting sun reminding him of his precious (lack of) time, he decided it would be a perfect opportunity to approach her.

He transformed back to his civilian self behind a park bench nearby, before walking _oh-so_ casually into her line of sight. But she didn't spot him, already preoccupied with a conversation between some of her fans.

Adrien frowned to himself. This was going to be a lot more difficult than he thought.

Plagg moved around in his shirt pocket. “Are you really sure you should be doing this, Adrien?” the kwami asked, green eyes staring up at him.

“I’m sure,” he said, but it was more so to convince himself.

There was a guilty rock in the pit of his stomach at the thought of him having ditched Ladybug just to… find out her identity.

Actually, when he thought of it that way, that was bad. _Really_ bad. If she figured it out somehow, she would be _so_ upset with him.

Adrien tugged at his shirt collar, swallowing. _Just walk up and say hi. Just walk up and say hi!_

He took a breath and started towards the small crowd around Ladybug, trying to figure a way to capture her attention.

But no. Life was not as simple as that.

“Oh my god, is that _Adrien Agreste?_ ” a voice cried, and he realised he’d made a _grave_ mistake.

 _Oh Adrien, how did you forget that you_ also _have fans?_ he asked himself, cringing, as he turned towards the source of the voice. A girl held out her phone, snapping a picture of him, and he knew he would be grounded later when his father figured he sneaked out without asking permission.

“Oh boy,” he heard Plagg mutter from his pocket.

Before he could make a quick escape, a crowd had started gathering around _him_. He looked around for a way to escape, but he was trapped. Ladybug had disappeared as well, obviously taking the opportunity to sneak off.

Adrien forced a smile for his fans, panic settling in. Why couldn’t Chat Noir just magically become invisible? _That_ would’ve been a handy power.

Just as he was reaching the last straw of patience, he heard the telltale sound of Ladybug’s yo-yo. She jumped down beside him, dispersing the crowd.

“N- need a little help?” she asked.

“Oh. Yes please.”

She tucked an arm around his waist and shot out her yo-yo, lifting them out of the situation before it could get anymore out of hand. They landed on a rooftop a few streets away—buying them time before their fans tracked them down again.

“What are you doing out by yourself, Mr Adrien Agreste?” Ladybug asked, stepping away to face him properly. She jutted out one hip and placed a hand on it, looking up at him from under her dark lashes.

He didn’t know if it was just because he was a celebrity, but she _did_ speak to him different compared to Chat Noir.

“Uh…” he said, searching for an appropriate answer. He decided to be  _somewhat_ honest. “Well, I snuck out for a breath of fresh air… then I heard Ladybug was on patrol today so I… decided to try and find you.”

Ladybug smiled. “Oh, you're a fan?”

Adrien mirrored her expression. “O-of course! Who _isn’t_ a fan of Ladybug?”

She laughed. “Well, I’m honoured. Especially with that coming from _you_.”

His cheeks grew warm. “R-really?” Jeez, for some reason he felt a bit like Marinette. “Well, I mean, you’re just so admirable… I’ve always wanted to be a superhero.”

Plagg sniggered in his pocket.

Ladybug didn’t notice his laughing clothes. Pink rushed to her cheeks. “I—well, thank you. I’m sure you would make a great superhero, if you were one.”

Adrien bit back a grin. “Oh yeah, like Chat Noir?”

“Better than Chat Noir,” she said rather confidently.

 _Oh_ , this was killing him. “Really?” he asked. “I’m chuffed. I really look up to him as well. He’s just so… confident, you know?”

Ladybug chuckled. “ _And_ annoying…” she added.

“What?”

“I should take you back home,” she said, changing the subject. She folded her arms over her chest and looked out into the distance. “Before your fans start climbing up the side of the building.”

Adrien thought back to the Gorizilla incident. They probably _would_ do that.

“Oh, right.” He didn’t pry any further. He wasn’t there to talk about Chat Noir, anyway—he was there to test Ladybug. His stomach fluttered with that reminder.

He didn’t know it would be so hard to… _flirt_ with Ladybug as _Adrien_.

Ladybug strutted over and grabbed hold of his waist again. Then they were off, soaring back toward the Agreste mansion.

As she dropped him off at his bedroom window, he turned to her. “Ma— _Ladybug_ , I just wanted to say something quick,” he said.

She perched on his window sill, waiting.

“I-I know this will sound cheesy…” Adrien said, looking down at his feet. His heart was pounding against his ribcage. “But I think you’re the g- _gratest_.”

Blood pooled in Ladybug's cheeks. She said nothing, and for a moment Adrien thought she might just up and leave without saying anything, but then she spluttered out, “T- _thanks_ , A-Adrien. You too.”

He blinked, and she was gone.

 

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Adrien was certain, now. He’d never rendered Ladybug speechless before—at least, not as Chat Noir. But even that very pathetic, _literally_ cheesy line had her a flustered mess.

He frowned in thought. Even if he _did_ figure out Ladybug’s true identity, once and for all, he was still a long way from confronting her about it—or even her figuring out he was Chat.

Besides, what happened if… Ladybug got upset when she found out Chat’s true identity? What happened if… she got mad at him for _knowing_ but never saying anything?

Plagg wriggled in his pocket. “Stop overthinking, Adrien,” he chastised.

“I’m not!”

“I can tell you are with that stupid expression of yours. Just relax! You always blow small things out of proportion.”

Adrien sighed, tuning out his kwami. _I will overthink if I want to_ , he mused. He was grounded for a week for the stunt he pulled yesterday anyway, so it wasn’t like he could do anything else.

As he was climbing the front stairs to school, a hand reached out and yanked him up and inside the school building. It belonged to Alya.

“Adrien, is it true you like Ladybug?” she asked once she'd pulled him into a corner underneath some stairs, placing her hands on her hips.

“Uh… sure? _Wait._ Where did you hear that?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

Alya ignored the look he was giving her, reaching for her phone. “Nino told me,” she said. He made a mental note to chase up Nino about this conversation later. “ _Plus_ , I was taking footage for the Ladyblog yesterday while Ladybug was on patrol and…”

Holding out her phone, she showed footage of him and Ladybug standing on the roof of that building from yesterday, taken from the window of an adjacent building. Then she swiped across, showing a picture of a _very_ flustered Ladybug swinging away from his house.

Adrien gave her a weird look. “How do you know where Ladybug is? Or at least manage to find her so quickly?”

Alya tapped her nose. “Girl senses.” She lowered the phone, sliding it back into her pocket. “But that’s besides the point! You can tell in those pictures that you two were… _totally_ flirting. Like, Ladybug was the colour of her suit, and she _never_ is. It’s true, right? That you like her?”

He opened his mouth, then closed it. “I admire her, yeah.” No way in _hell_ would he openly admit to that.

“Then why are you flirting with Marinette?”

“I, uh…” Adrien realised he was stuck. Very stuck. More stuck than that one time they fought Anansi. “I…”

Alya’s gaze flicked behind him, and he had a feeling someone else was approaching. He turned, following her line of sight, to see Marinette meandering towards them. Her cheeks were glowing red.

“Hey Marinette,” he greeted.

She kept her gaze to the ground. “Hi, Adrien…”

Adrien glanced back at Alya, who folded her arms over her chest and gave him a look that meant _We’ll finish this later_. He sighed.

“Marinette, you came at the right time! We were just discussing plans to go to the cinema this weekend,” Alya said, sidling up next to her best friend and slinging one arm over her shoulder. “Right, Adrien?”

He swallowed. “Right… but um, maybe not this weekend…”

“Why’s that?”

“I’m, uh, grounded.”

“G-grounded?” Marinette echoed. “How come?”

Adrien laughed nervously. “I went out yesterday without telling my dad.”

“Yeah, to flirt with _Ladybug_ ,” Alya muttered.

“What?” both Adrien and Marinette said in unison.

“Did I say something? I mean, I said I needed to go talk to Nino. We’ll discuss our movie plans later. See you!” Alya waved goodbye and walked off, but shot him a glare when Marinette wasn’t looking.

The remaining two stood together in an awkward silence, avoiding each other’s eyes.

“So…” Adrien said.

“I-is it true you Likeybug?” Marinette interrupted. “I mean, you likey Ladybug?” She cringed at her mess up, but didn’t rush to correct it.

“Uh…” He hesitated. Well, if Marinette was Ladybug, did he have to lie? Would he have lied to her if he wasn’t aware she was Ladybug? Plagg’s lecture on him overthinking echoed in his mind. _Damn it_. “Yeah.”

She fidgeted with her hands, staring at them as if they were most interesting thing in the world. “Like… you _like_ -like her?”

“Um… yeah, I guess.”

“I… er, how could you like someone who you don’t know? I mean, you don’t know their identity?”

“What if I already know her identity?” Adrien blurted without thinking, and Marinette’s head shot up like a deer under headlights. _Oh boy_. “Uh—I mean, like, would she really be that different from her civilian identity? Sure, maybe a little different because she can’t be like her vulnerable self as a superhero, but deep down she’s the same person anyway, so I don’t see anything wrong with li- liking her.”

His face burning up. He hoped she didn’t notice (but heck, she probably did).

Marinette floundered for something to say. “B-but, you know, it’s a superhero identity! A superhero has to be, lell, _wikeable—I_ _meanlikeable!_ Maybe Ladybug has a lot of flaws as her normal self! Maybe she acts great as Ladybug, but deep down, is… totally not La- like Ladybug.”

“Well, I definitely act different—uh, I mean, I _would_ act different as a superhero, especially if no one knew my true identity. You know? I would act like how I want to act without the consequences of civilian form. So, even with flaws, Ladybug would still be Ladybug in civilian form, but just having to contain her Ladybug qualities. Right?”

She blinked, staring hard up at him. It was as if she’d caught on to something.

Well, he _had_ stumbled a few times in a very suspicious manner. So, that didn’t surprise him. He offered a sheepish grin, his stomach churning with nerves, praying she wouldn’t outright confront him.

“ _If_ you were a superhero,” Marinette said, “how would you act like, then?”

Adrien’s mind blanked at that question. His brain said, _Like Chat Noir_. His heart also said, _Like Chat Noir_.

Plagg said, “Stupid.”

So he said, “Stupid.”

They stared at each other for a moment, before he cracked a grin. “I—I was kidding. Sort of.”

Marinette returned the smile. Before she could say anything more, the school bell cut her off, much to his relief. “Oh! Would you look at that! Class is starting. S-see sou yoon, Adrien!” She finger-gunned at him, then ran off.

He stood there, watching as she disappeared up the stairs, trying to understand what the conversation meant.

From his pocket, Plagg muttered, “I can’t believe you actually _said_ it. You really are stupid.”

 

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He decided he would keep at it with the cheesy pick-up lines. For some reason. Even if they weren’t going as planned—he was just _confused_ about Marinette and Ladybug—he enjoyed… being Chat, but no one really _knowing_.

Plus, Marinette’s reactions were adorably entertaining, somewhat.

“If you keep acting this way,” Plagg had warned earlier that afternoon, “someone is going to put two and two together, and you’re going to blow your cover.”

Adrien had just laughed to himself. “Come on! You said it yourself. People are blind. I doubt anyone will.”

“Marinette will,” his kwami had said sulkily, but he hadn't heard it, too preoccupied with the thought of having patrol with Ladybug again that night.

He sighed, his heart bubbling as he waited for his partner at their usual meeting place. He hadn’t seen her since before he skipped out the previous patrol to approach her as Adrien.

“Chat! You’re early,” Ladybug said, dropping down beside him.

Adrien tore his gaze away from the sunset. “M’Lady!” He reached for her hand and planted a kiss on it. She drew away a little too quick, but he pretended not to notice. “Is there an airport nearby, or is that just my heart taking off?”

She sighed. “Just your imagination, Kitty.”

“Me _owch_ ,” he said, grinning. “What are our plans for today?”

“I don’t know… just the usual patrol, I think. No one has called for our help. Actually, now that I think of it, it’s been _unusually_ peaceful.” Ladybug frowned.

“Maybe Hawkmoth has taken a holiday,” Adrien mused. “Or an akumatised victim has been creating peace instead of wreaking havoc?”

“I doubt it,” she said. “Anyway, I… I have some suspicions about Hawkmoth, again.”

He turned back to Ladybug, leaning in. “Ooh, spill the beans?”

“Okay, well, maybe I’m reaching a bit with this theory, but… I think Hawkmoth is tied to… to Adrien Agreste.”

Adrien almost fell on his face. “W- _what?!_ Why?” He took a breath, trying to collect himself before she suspected something of Chat Noir as well.

“Well, lately, I’ve noticed… Adrien Agreste has taken a lot of interest in me—uh, _Ladybug_. I’m sure you heard about what happened the last patrol you missed, right?” She looked to him and he nodded. “It’s kind of out of the blue, so I started thinking about how he’s _never_ been akumatised. Of course, he’s been _attacked_ by the akuma, but that could just be a ploy to stop us from finding Hawkmoth, right?

“He also had that—um, a book with Miraculous superheroes in it! I mean, we’ve suspected Gabriel Agreste before as well, but that was disproved in The Collector incident—at least, I hope so. But Hawkmoth could be _anyone_.”

Adrien wanted to face-palm. If Plagg could hear this conversation, he’d probably be laughing himself unconscious.

“Are you listening to me, Chat?” Ladybug asked when he hadn’t said anything for a while.

He blinked. “Oh, yeah. I was just thinking. Sorry.”

She squinted at him and he swallowed.

 _Best to play along._ “You… could be right. Why don’t you confront him about it, then? If he’s such a big fan of Ladybug and means no harm, I’m sure he wouldn’t try to fight back.”

“You’re right, Chat Noir. We should go over to the Agreste mansion right now and ask him.” Ladybug grabbed her yo-yo, preparing to leave.

Adrien spluttered. “A-are you sure? What happens if he’s not home? If he’s tied to Hawkmoth, should we really both show up at the Agreste mansion?” he asked. “It could be a trap. Plus, we could be making a big scene out of something small… There’s no solid evidence _yet_.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Why are you so against it? Is there something you’re _hiding_ , Kitty?” She walked up to him, so close she was a breath away from his face.

 _Yeah. My identity,_ he thought, trying his best to keep a straight face. “I just think it’s not the best idea right now, Bugaboo. If Hawkmoth suspects we’re onto him, we could fall right into his trap.” His partner looked unconvinced. “Personally, I don’t… think you have enough evidence to back up your suspicion. Yet.”

“But you just said we should confront him.”

“I said _you_ should confront him, but I didn’t mean like, marching into his house and announcing he has an alliance with Hawkmoth.”

Adrien imagined such a scene happening, the look on his father’s face if Ladybug and Chat Noir burst in through the front door, demanding his son. He was sure he couldn’t sneak back into his room before that without anyone knowing Chat was missing, too.

Ladybug stared long and hard at his face. “Hmm. Fine. I’ll keep an eye on him for now. We should get on with our patrol, at least.”

He breathed a sigh of relief when she turned away on her heel, marching off to the edge of the roof. “That sounds good, M’Lady.”

Plagg and him were going to have a _long_ conversation when he got home later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Catalyst has aired and I feel so, so, so very stressed about Mayura. But I'll save my screaming about the new episodes for a later time when most people have seen it, haha.
> 
> Now that we're at the season finale, I feel like I should say this story was written without the finale in mind, so you can either take it as an AU!without the finale or just after the finale sometime—whenever things aren't making me sweat buckets about the safety of our beloved Parisian heroes. Haha. Ha.
> 
> That aside, whoops, I failed to update this sooner (I was a bit busy, but also lazy, and I've been reading too many fanfics, as evident by my sudden exponential increase of bookmarks). 
> 
> TBH I've had this chapter waiting in drafts since I got chapter two up, but was trying to finish chapter four before I posted it. Well, I finished chapter four, but I think I'm going to rewrite the latter half, because I kind of went on a tangent and now I'm like, "hmm, is this really necessary?" lol. I might add the deleted scenes as like an extra chapter if people are interested, but they're really... not that essential, and Adrien sort of angsts a little bit, which DOESN'T FIT THIS STORY AT ALL HAHA!
> 
> Plus, I may possibly accidentally end up with six chapters for this, depending on how wordy chapter five gets, because I looooove my word vomit. I'm trying to keep these chapters between 2k-3k, just because I'm a nervous writer like that. the doc with everything is already over 10k words, and that in itself is a SIN. To think I thought I was going to write a oneshot with this, haha, nope. This makes me nervous about another oneshot idea I have (pls lorde don't let me word vomit that one thnx). 
> 
> ALSO THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT AS ALWAYS I APPRECIATE IT EVEN THOUGH I TOTALLY SUCK AT RESPONDING TO THINGS. :))))) Your comments on the banana akuma idea last chapter made me laugh.


	4. Chapter 4

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“Should I go to Master Fu about this?” Adrien asked as he paced across his room, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. He’d only just gotten home from patrol, trying to ease himself out of panic.

Plagg watched him. “No. You really shouldn’t.”

He stopped pacing to muss his hands through his hair, sighing up at the ceiling. “I’m definitely screwed. Ladybug is probably going to like, _arrest_ me. And then the secret will get out somehow. And it’s going to be _so_ awkward.”

“I told you it was a bad idea,” his kwami said.

Adrien looked at him. “No you didn’t.”

“I _implied_ it was a bad idea. Several times.”

The boy groaned, throwing his arms up in the air. “I’m so stupid.”

“You said it!” Plagg turned away to help himself to the cheese platter on his desk. “Man, all this talking about Master Fu and Hawkmoth is making me hungry.”

“Seriously, Plagg? You’re eating at a time like _this?_ ” Adrien turned to frown in disapproval at the kwami, but the space he was moments before showed no signs of the little black creature. That was strange. “Plagg?”

No answer came. He swallowed, glancing around the room for signs of his presence, but he soon realised he was alone.

Or so he thought.

A tapping sound came from the glass of his bedroom window, and Adrien started, swinging around to see Ladybug dangling outside, watching him. She waved and offered a small smile, gesturing for him to open the glass.

Adrien hesitated, a bout of panic rising in his chest. _Oh boy_. He thought he’d deterred her from pursuing him about the whole Hawkmoth-suspicious-thing at patrol—at least for the time being—but nay, that was not so.

He forced a smile to his face and started toward the window, hoping she didn’t notice the fact that he was absolutely crapping his pants. This was not good. This was very, very not good.

Of course, Plagg hadn’t completely disappeared, he noted with ease. The darned kwami had just hidden himself before Ladybug could spot him. If things really did take a turn for the worse, he would have his back, right? _Right?_

Adrien glanced back at the empty platter on his desk, doubt pressing his thoughts.

“Ladybug,” he greeted when he swung open the window and she climbed into his room. “What do I owe you for gracing me on this fine evening?”

Ladybug stood straight, eyes drinking in her surroundings, as if searching for something. “Sorry to pop in so late,” she said, fixing her gaze on him. “I don’t want to alarm you about anything, but I need to talk to you about something important.”

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Look…” Her voice came out shaky, but she cleared her throat, steering her eyes to the floor. “I’m not trying to accuse you of anything, but… do you happen to have any ties with… Hawkmoth?”

“Hawkmoth?” Adrien echoed, trying his best to play dumb. Ladybug nodded. He perched on the edge of his bed, facing her. “Not that I’m aware of, no.”

It wasn’t the greatest answer, admittedly. Her eyes snapped back up to his. “Do you mean there’s a chance you could be? Helping him, I mean.”

He gulped. “Uh—unless you count being the victim of his akumas several times, no. Of course not.” He knew she still wasn’t convinced, so he grabbed at the first thing he could find to steer the conversation away from her suspicions about him. “Why? Do you think you’ve figured out who Hawkmoth is?”

Ladybug paused, looking away. “N— _no_ , not exactly. I just…” She faltered, fiddling with the fabric of her gloves. “I just thought, you’ve been acting a little uncharacteristically so to say. I’ve gotten some… concerned reports about strange behaviour. So I ought to check up on you to make sure you haven’t… strayed.”

A beat of silence passed, before he heard his cupboard mutter, “ _Stupid._ ”

Unfortunately, as much as he wished she hadn’t, she heard it too. “What?”

Adrien forced a loud, awkward cough, jumping up from his bed. “Uh, I just said that’s stupid.” He watched as her expression changed and began tracing back his words. “I mean—I’m stupid. I’ve been acting a little stupid. Right?”

Ladybug frowned as he laughed, nervous. “N— I didn’t mean to imply that.”

“Sorry,” he said, forcing his hands into his pockets. “I’ve been trying to, uh, you know, be more confident. Like, uh—” His eyes fell on the cupboard. “— _Chat Noir_. He’s so, uh, outgoing, right? I was trying to be a bit more like him to make friends and all, since he seems really popular, um. But maybe I just sound stupid, because I’m not like him. At all. So maybe that’s been freaking people out. I didn’t mean to—I didn’t mean to freak you out as well.”

She took a moment to process the garbage that gushed out of his mouth, only to give him a look of confusion. “Uh… right. Right.” She relaxed her position a little, exhaling, before moving closer to look up at him from under her dark lashes. It was the same look Marinette had given him—the same look Ladybug had given him hours before. “You know, Adrien, you don’t need to be like Chat Noir to make friends or whatever. He’s not a very good role-model, anyway.”

_Oof_. Adrien held his tongue.

“I mean, you can act like however you want, just… don’t _overdo_ it, okay?” Ladybug reached out to touch him, but seemed to second guess herself, drawing her hand back before they made contact. “I’m sorry for coming at you with this. I didn’t mean to scare you, or anything. But I can trust your word that you’re on our side, right? My side.”

She looked at him, _really_ looked at him, and a rock lodged in his throat. He couldn’t say anything, so he just nodded.

Ladybug beamed. “Great. Well, that’s one stress out of the way.” She whipped around and started off back towards his window. Before she made way to leave, she paused and looked over at him. “Adrien?”

“Y-yes?” Adrien suddenly came back to life, stumbling closer to her.

She looked away. “I’m sorry for… suspecting you.”

“It’s fine Ma—Muh— _Ladybug_ .” He silently cursed himself for stumbling, at how darned _obvious_ that was. But she didn’t seem to notice, so he did the next best-worst thing he could think of. “I do have one request, though.”

Ladybug raised a questioning eyebrow at him as he lifted his arm out to her.

“Would you grab my arm so I can tell my friends I’ve been touched by an angel?” he asked with a grin.

She snorted, her cheeks pink. “ _Really?_ ” she said, eyeing his arm like it was a grenade.

“ _Purr-_ lease?”

Her eyes stopped on his ring—his miraculous—for a moment, just a moment, and his breath caught in his throat, expecting her to question it. But then she dragged them away and sighed, reaching out to pat his arm awkwardly.

“There,” Ladybug said, lowering her hand. She turned away and grabbed onto the window sill, hauling herself up into crouching position. Before she launched herself out into the streets of Paris, she added without looking back at him, “To be honest, I think you might be running competition for Chat Noir.”

Adrien stood stunned as she disappeared from his window, and stayed put until she was out of sight. When he was sure she was well gone, he shut his window and turned back to his room.

“Alright, Plagg. I know you fear the wrath of Master Fu, but do you fear the wrath of _Adrien Agreste?_ ”

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Ever since whatever went down with Ladybug, Marinette had been trying her best to avoid him.

It wasn’t super outright or anything, at least, she couldn’t do it without Alya questioning her (or him) about it—but he could tell.

He would walk into the locker room in the morning, and as soon as Marinette noticed him, she’d be dragging Alya out the door, pretending she didn’t see him. She kept her head down in class and never met his eyes once, even when he greeted her. She made herself as scarce as possible outside of class, so it was impossible for him to even approach her.

Adrien could really only judge the situation with a ‘well, yikes’ attitude. Either he’d completely guessed wrong about her identity and come on too hard, freaked her out altogether, or failed miserably at convincing her he wasn’t some super villain’s sidekick.

Plagg was no help in advice, either. “You need to stop asking me about these things! Get some help, Adrien!” the kwami had told him with wide eyes, hiding in his pile of stinking cheese.

It was terrible. And he was, well, a little heartbroken.

But there he was—standing outside the Dupain-Cheng bakery, phone in one hand and his forehead in the other. It’d been a week since everything had gone down and now he was free from his house-sentence, so the first thing Alya did was blackmail him into going with her, Nino and Marinette to the cinemas the following weekend.

Of _course_ Alya and Nino would conveniently run late to their meeting time, leaving him stranded out front the bakery. Marinette would be coming downstairs any time now, and he would have to grin and bear the awkward silence between them.

Adrien closed his eyes and sighed. _Relax,_ he told himself, _you’re a superhero. You can do anything_.

(That was a lie, and he knew it.)

“A-Adrien?” a voice said from behind, and he screamed just a little bit, jumping away from the bakery. When he turned, he saw it was just Marinette, looking more than surprised. “Um… s-sorry?”

“H-hey M’la—Muh— _Marinette_ ! It’s fine!” he blurted, heat rising to his face. Oh God, he did it _again_. “Sorry for screaming…”

She waved her hand to dismiss the apology, before glancing around as if she was looking for something. “Where are Alya and Nino?”

Adrien looked down at the message on his phone. _Sent 10 minutes ago_. “They said they were going to be late…” Another message came through as he was reading. He stifled a groan. “Now they want us to meet them at the cinema.”

Marinette frowned and folded her arms over her chest. Her pose reminded him of a certain red bug. “How convenient,” she said. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she didn’t see it— _or_ ignored it. “Well, I guess we should start walking. The movie will start in half an hour.”

“Right.” He awkwardly tagged behind her as she marched off in the direction of the cinema, occupied with her phone. She was probably cursing Alya through message for all he knew, because all of this smelt _very_ intentional.

Actually… _why_ would Nino and Alya intentionally leave him and Marinette alone?

Alya had been really weird about him flirting with Marinette, now that he thought about it. Maybe Alya was just being a protective best friend, but she’d been all, _You can’t flirt with Ladybug_ and _Marinette. You have to pick one!_

Hmm.

_Hmm_.

It wasn’t like the thought hadn’t crossed his mind before. The thought that maybe Marinette liked him. It would explain a lot, but… as he looked up at the girl taking lead, he decided the way she’d been acting lately told him different.

Plus, Ladybug _had_ mentioned liking someone… but that didn’t mean it was _him_.

_Ladybug didn’t even like Chat Noir_ , he thought with a sinking feeling. _I doubt Marinette would like_ me.

“Adrien?” Marinette called him back from his thoughts. She was peering at him with a concerned expression. “Are you… _okay?_ ”

He blinked, before forcing a grin. “Yeah, sure. Why?”

She flushed, fiddling with the strap of her purse. “Oh, well, you know, you just looked… distraught for a moment. Plus, I remembered that you were… grounded last week and just wanted to check everything was alright.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s cool,” he said a little too quickly. “I mean, being grounded sucks, but it’s nothing new to me. Anyway, I caught up on some assignments for once, so I guess it wasn’t all bad.”

Marinette nodded, slowing her pace to match his. “I suppose… your father just comes off as very strict. I was worried it was bigger than you were letting on.”

Well, his father was pretty mad about the whole ordeal, but it wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before. There was a long lecture and a few threats to pull him from school, but he managed to convince him it was an one-off incident and he would never do it again.

She was still watching him as he mused. “I’m guessing I was right?”

Adrien pulled his lips into a straight line. “Nah, it was pretty usual for him. He still let me go to school, so could’ve been worse.”

Marinette frowned, biting down on her lip. She opened her mouth to say something, but then snapped it shut.

He changed the subject. “So, how are things going for you?”

She shrugged. “Same as usual.”

“Still designing?”

“Yeah. Always.”

“Cool.”

The conversation was so dry and awkward he wanted to hit himself in the face and scream all at once. He stared at her, waiting for her to say something else or start the conversation again, but all she did was look back at him with a blank expression. Was it some staring contest to her, or something?

Eventually, Marinette asked, “What?”

“What what?” Adrien asked back.

“You keep looking at me,” she said. Her cheeks then flushed, and she sucked in her lips and averted her gaze to the ground.

He opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated. _Actually_ …

Adrien cleared his throat, still watching her carefully. “I think there’s something wrong with my eyes. I just can’t take them off you, you know?”

Marinette whipped around to look at him, eyes wide and nostrils flaring, and he offered a sheepish grin. She held up a finger, stuttering, “You— _you—_ ” before pausing to huff and fold her arms over her chest, turning away to glare ahead. “I thought you were going to stop… _that_.”

“Stop what?” He couldn’t stop grinning.

“Flirting with _girls_ ,” she said, pouting.

Adrien shook his head. “Girls?” he echoed. “It’s only with you.”

“ _And_ Ladybug,” she added.

He wanted to say  _But that’s you_  so badly it hurt, but everything screamed at him not to. So he swallowed down the words and shrugged. “Okay, well, _maybe_ Ladybug, but I don’t flirt with her as much as you.”

Marinette scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. “ _Sure_.”

That one word was loaded with meaning, loaded with something she wanted to say, and he knew it, could just about _decipher_ it, but he didn’t push it. He left it hanging, and they walked the remaining distance to the cinema in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops so I didn't update this for a long time.  
> I kinda grew frustrated with what I was writing so I took a break, and I may continue to keep taking a break on this fic, until I can figure out how I'm going to finish this up.  
> buuut I've had this chapter sitting as a draft on here forever so I'm going to post it.  
> rest assured, if I don't update this I'm surely working on another monster for MLB, oops. it's clocking in at 6k words and I have NO idea where it is going, so in the wise words of Marinette, "ehehehe." It's just as chaotic as this one though, in its own special way.

**Author's Note:**

> (adrien voice) maRinEttEs jUSt A fRiEnD
> 
> I was going to actually do 100 pick-up lines in this, but I'm pretty sure I'll lose my sanity before that, so NOPE. NOPE. I don't have that much creativity in me. plus, I was already fraying just trying to find a substantial amount of clean, decent pick-up lines that were the right amount of cheesy and not the wrong amount of traumatising the reader lol. 
> 
> anyway, I'm new to writing Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction, so naturally I'm doing a sin and writing a totally overdone trope (Adrien finding out Ladybug's identity, plus it's another reveal fic - oh boy, how dare I). 
> 
> I haven't seen anyone do a fic that's inundated with Adrien rattling off bad puns to Marinette - yet, I mean, I haven't read A LOT of ML fanfics because I'm lazy and exit out of the tab as soon as I see something that's more than 10,000 words long - so, welp if I'm wrong and I'm just pumping out another unoriginal idea (as if any of this is original, lmao). 
> 
> that aside, I hope you enjoyed this, and uhh let's pray I update this sometime?


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